NEW TO DVD

Through `Red Eye,' Hollywood taking another look at Craven

January 06, 2006|By Joshua Klein, Special to the Tribune

Director Wes Craven is a master at injecting his horror films, slasher flicks and monster movies with intellectual subtexts, as befits someone with degrees in psychology and philosophy. But he also has been guilty of sacrificing smarts for the sake of cheap shocks in the likes of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and the "Scream" films, which is partly what makes "Red Eye" (DreamWorks, 2005, 1:26; PG-13, $29.99) such a treat.

Arriving on DVD Tuesday, it's a taut, efficient thriller (a first for Craven), set largely on an airplane--a film that lasts less than an hour and a half but keeps you riveted for the duration. It also helped boost Craven's self-esteem, following the torturous production of the disastrous werewolf movie "Cursed" and a career that made it all but impossible to escape the "horror maven" mantle.

"It brought tears to my eyes," Craven says. "I watched the opening with my family, and was talking to Marianne [Maddalena, production partner], and I burst into tears. We had such a long trail to that point. `Cursed' was a very difficult film. And to have gone into a film with a good script, and good actors, with good reviews, it felt like we had finally reached the Promised Land."

In fact, "Cursed," mired by reshoots, recasting and countless other problems, was still in postproduction when Craven eagerly began "Red Eye."

"It was literally during the final mix of `Cursed' that I read `Red Eye,'" Craven reveals, "and I loved it. They said we had to start right away, so we started preproduction almost immediately. There may have been a two-week overlap of production and postproduction on those two films. We were in a big rush, because the studio wanted us to come out before `Flightplan.' The entire movie, from the time I signed on to the time I turned in our [first cut] was 5 1/2 months. It was a very fast, efficiently shot film."

Craven embraced the very limitations that may have hampered other directors, especially those working at his level.

"It kept it spare and kept any secondary things out of it," Craven says. "In general, it makes for less outside interference, because people have to let you do what you're doing. It has to get done fast. I have over 30 years experience of doing suspense, so I knew exactly what I needed. But I also knew what I didn't need, so I didn't shoot it. That allows you to move faster. We had a great [director of photography], and a great crew, and two actors [rising stars Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy] who are obviously blossoming, just exploding on the scene. Every month they seem to be in more and more films."

Craven even surprised the studio by turning in his director's cut early, and even more efficiently, than expected.

"We actually turned out to be too short, so we had to go back and put things in to slow it down, which was frustrating," he says.

Yet what few frustrations Craven faced on the set and behind the scenes were minimized by the film's critical reception and artistic success, which keeps bringing Craven enticing offers.

"The fact that `Red Eye' was brought to me shows there's a growing realization that I'm a director rather than a horror director," he says. "I've very cleverly exploited the horror genre, sure, but as a director I can direct anything. DreamWorks came back to us with a comedy! So I kind of feel that the doors have burst open, and I'm going to try and do very different kinds of material for the foreseeable future.

"The more money you have in the bank, the more chances you can take. I just turned down a $125 million film, and I'm doing an HBO film where my fee is one-twentieth what I would have gotten. It's important to me to do what I like. I certainly have enough money in the bank that I don't worry about rainy days, unless it's for 40 days and 40 nights! I'm just trying to give myself a little gift of time to try other things."

Best of the week

"Wedding Crashers" (NewLine, 2005, 1:59/2:08, R/NR, $29.98): Sloppy and slack, the last thing "Wedding Crashers" needed was extra footage, but that's what the "uncorked" edition offers. However, the disc also allows you to watch the brisker theatrical version, and that's the version that gets the commentary tracks. If you want more of that laid-back Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn camaraderie, their yak track is like listening to reunited buddies.

"The Cave" (Sony, 2005, 1:37, PG-13, $28.95): The movie's a disposable stinker, but the second commentary track with screenwriters Michael Steinberg and Tegan West shows not all dumb movies start out that way. The pair bravely, if diplomatically, point out changes made to their script that resulted in continuity errors, technological confusion (how do scuba divers talk with a mouthpiece in place?) and just plain silliness. It's a rare, honest glimpse of how the movie biz often works.

"Broken Flowers" (Universal, 2005, 1:46, R, $29.98): Jim Jarmusch rarely participates in DVD special features, so what few extras are included on "Broken Flowers" largely comprise outtakes featuring the cast. But included is hilarious extra footage of a pair of motormouth girls, plus Bill Murray goofs. Most surreal, however, is a home-movie-quality montage overlaid with what sounds like a Jarmusch interview delivered via cell phone.

Dud of the week

"Dumb and Dumber" (New Line, 1994, 1:43, NR, $19.98): Apropos of nothing, an unrated "Dumb and Dumber" arrives with three extended scenes added and a bunch of deleted scenes in the special features.